$10M, Andriod, and Sprint
Of the two rumors that are out there about Google right now, the one about Google being in talks with Simon Fuller (anybody who has seen American Idol even once must remember him) is really cute and cool. I can't wait to see a TV channel sponsored by Google and hosted by Simon. That will make me actually watch TV.
But the other one, Google looking at buying Sprint, is huge. Following the announcement of Android, Google is pushing in major fronts to get it off the ground. The first step was obviously building an alliance and making Android an open initiative, the second one is the $10,000,000 Developer Challenge Fund for Android developers. That will attract a lot of people to seriously look at developing for Android. Ok, you have the backing of some companies, you have an army of 3rd party developers, what else do you need? The audience to use the applications.
It has been no secret that Google has been bidding for a wireless spectrum to do their own mobile service. I'm sure it will happen at some point. But hey, when you have the money, why not buying out a carrier with an existing customer base and just expose them to a new realm of mobile applications that did no exist before? The US market will pick up mobile applications for the first time. This is going to take as by a storm, it's not trivial to realize the magnitude of what we have in front of us. Today the mobile application market virtually does not exist in the US. With Frucall I have been living and breathing that market and I know what's out there. Pretty much nothing of meaningful consequence. The key reason has been the lack of infrastructure, from handsets to carriers (be it mindset, technology, or pricing).
Google is big enough to change this picture, and it looks like they are doing it. Think of pre-PC and post-PC market, I think we are about to see such drastic shift in the history of technology again.
By the way, the news in the wireless sector probably overshadow what's going on elsewhere: Same shift seems be starting in the Cable market. I'm sure we will see Google's name here too - probably with Simon's :-)
But the other one, Google looking at buying Sprint, is huge. Following the announcement of Android, Google is pushing in major fronts to get it off the ground. The first step was obviously building an alliance and making Android an open initiative, the second one is the $10,000,000 Developer Challenge Fund for Android developers. That will attract a lot of people to seriously look at developing for Android. Ok, you have the backing of some companies, you have an army of 3rd party developers, what else do you need? The audience to use the applications.
It has been no secret that Google has been bidding for a wireless spectrum to do their own mobile service. I'm sure it will happen at some point. But hey, when you have the money, why not buying out a carrier with an existing customer base and just expose them to a new realm of mobile applications that did no exist before? The US market will pick up mobile applications for the first time. This is going to take as by a storm, it's not trivial to realize the magnitude of what we have in front of us. Today the mobile application market virtually does not exist in the US. With Frucall I have been living and breathing that market and I know what's out there. Pretty much nothing of meaningful consequence. The key reason has been the lack of infrastructure, from handsets to carriers (be it mindset, technology, or pricing).
Google is big enough to change this picture, and it looks like they are doing it. Think of pre-PC and post-PC market, I think we are about to see such drastic shift in the history of technology again.
By the way, the news in the wireless sector probably overshadow what's going on elsewhere: Same shift seems be starting in the Cable market. I'm sure we will see Google's name here too - probably with Simon's :-)
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